Saturday, March 26, 2011

I probably shouldn't have read a Charlie Chan mystery so shortly after having finished all my Raymond Chandler novels. It just didn't hold up nearly as well as it might have without Marlowe breathing down my neck. Plus, I'd read the essays and letters that were in my Chandler collection and he definitely was a snob about mysteries. I don't think he's ruined the genre for me but he did make me realize that some of the "greats" were really about puzzles and not true to life in the least.

Anyway, I never saw any of the Charlie Chan movies so now I might have to so that I fully understand them. Nevertheless, The Chinese Parrot was amusing. It was very funny and, though predictable, I enjoyed watching all the pieces fall into place. My 21st century self at first thought it was a bit racist but then I realized how often Charlie Chan was able to use his race to an advantage to find out more about the crime so I decided it wasn't. Also, Biggers clearly points out how racist some of the other characters are and does not praise them for it, so I suppose it was pretty advanced for the 1920s. At times I wondered if these novels were written with the hopes that they would become movies since there was almost too much dialogue.

Since Sergio pointed out to me that I had the cut-off date for the Vintage Mystery Challenge wrong, I can now include The Long Goodbye. It could be subtitled, "Marlowe Makes a Friend and Gets Used." Or, "How to Make a Gimlet the Right Way." But I did really like it, don't get me wrong. Lots of turns and confusion and a real love-interest this time, though he doesn't seem to find her that attractive at first, at least not compared to the beautiful woman he has to fight off in one scene. Lots of hidden identities too.

1. Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham2. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers3. The Chinese Parrot by Earl Derr Biggers4. Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer5. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin6. something by Ellery Queen7. Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler8. Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh9. Black Orchids by Rex Stout10. The Silent Speaker by Rex Stout11. The Cape Cod Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor12. The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing13. The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Orczy14. The High Window by Raymond Chandler15. The Lady in the Lake by Chandler16. The Little Sister by Chandler17. The Long Goodbye by Raymond ChandlerHalf-way there!

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Who knew that I would develop such a Raymond Chandler obsession through my reading for the Vintage Mystery Challenge? I tend to read British mysteries more often and I almost never read anything set in LA but here I am, still going. And I'll probably add extras on to my list, since I have the Library of America collection of his later novels checked out from the library right now.

Anyway, I enjoyed The Lady in the Lake because it took Marlowe out of the city a bit and had a more appealing member of law enforcement--Sheriff Jim Patton. He put up with Marlowe breaking into a suspect's house very well and didn't seem so bitter against private eyes. Maybe it had something to do with his age and his rural location. He even had a card on his car that said, "Voters, Attention! Keep Jim Patton Constable. He is too old to go to work." But he still proved to be a surprisingly good shot. Add to this the twisted plot that I thought I had an early insight into and then it seemed to be wrong but then turned out to be true but twisted way worse than I imagined--great stuff.

The Little Sister was a little tougher. Marlowe seems to have reached his low point in this novel--several times he says to himself, "You're not human tonight, Marlowe." He appears to be done with LA--he describes how he used to like it, before it became a "neon-lighted slum." Also, "Real cities have something else, some individual bony structure under the muck. Los Angeles has Hollywood--and hates it. It ought to consider itself damn lucky. Without Hollywood it would be a mail-order city. Everything in the catalogue you could get better somewhere else." I wonder what he would think of it today--is it just more of the same?

I found it interesting that the female character he seemed closest to in this novel wasn't the girl next door type this time but the hard, desperate, blonde movie star. One character even hinted that he was in love with her but it's so hard to tell with Marlowe--maybe that's why I keep reading more!

1. Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham2. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers3. The Chinese Parrot by Earl Derr Biggers4. Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer5. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin6. something by Ellery Queen7. Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler8. Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh9. Black Orchids by Rex Stout10. The Silent Speaker by Rex Stout11. The Cape Cod Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor12. The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing13. The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Orczy14. The High Window by Raymond Chandler15. The Lady in the Lake by Chandler16. The Little Sister by Chandler17. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (won't count for challenge because written in 1953)